Hi All
Right got round to replacing my front break pads on my FD. Now Im a bit stuck. The Pistons on the Caliper will not go back in to the caliper to allow the new thicker pads to be fitted. Am very stuck cos I thought id just remove the caliper and use the C clamp method but the two nuts to remove the caliper are locked on solid. Has anyone got any ideas as I cant get the new pads on or the old ones back on as the pistons seamed to have closed upa bit.
Oh and it started raining just to really cheer me up.
Help.
Niall
Hi Niall,
Just keep gently priseing using a big screwdriver with the old pads in place so the pistons don\'t drop out
( you need the pads in the opposite side that your prising or this will happen)
not being funny but i assume u have removed the master cylinder cap to release the fluid
Hi Guys thanks for the replies.
Yes I have taken the cap of the master cylinder. Am going to go and have another go at it now before I lose the light. Have tried prising the pistons out but one of them seams to be jammed open.
Any more suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks
Niall
i am thinking seized piston as with cap off master cylinder they should prise back very easily certainly not require too much effort
Does the piston twist?
Right well its cold and dark now so ive packed in again.
Got the outer pad back in and stared prising at it but they dont seam to have moved at all. Can\'t get the pad back in on the inner side so I tried prising at the pistons individually, again they wont budge. Only the lower of the two is extened but neither of them will budge.
If its seized what can I do to fix it???
Any more help is appreciated.
Niall
if its seized then best bet is a new one..clive is doing a very good price on fd calipers at the moment...prising back the pistons should really be equiv to say undoing a wheel bolt in terms of effort required as all u are doing is forcing hydraulic fluid back thru the system
Quote from: yogibearHi All
Right got round to replacing my front break pads on my FD. Now Im a bit stuck. The Pistons on the Caliper will not go back in to the caliper to allow the new thicker pads to be fitted. Am very stuck cos I thought id just remove the caliper and use the C clamp method but the two nuts to remove the caliper are locked on solid. Has anyone got any ideas as I cant get the new pads on or the old ones back on as the pistons seamed to have closed upa bit.
Oh and it started raining just to really cheer me up.
Help.
Niall
Forget prizing & squezzing etc.
They don\'t compress like the front caliper pistons by squezzing.
The rears have to be screwed in clockwise. These can be a pig to screw in when seized especially if you don\'t have the correct tool.
I had this problem when i did mine with the inner pistons, you\'ll probably find the the pistons aren\'t square i.e they\'re tilted in one direction or other. Sometimes a tap using a suitable drift on the inner lip will move them, or even a set of water pump pliers on the exposed part of the cylinder NOT THE RUBBER PART it can be possible to check if they rotate if they do then they should be located in the bore & you will be able to push them back in. Once mine were reseated in the bores I was able to push them in with finger force with the cap off.
I found this easier with the disc removed & the caliper bolted back in position. But I was changing the discs too .
Once i had them moving & one side was fully home in the bores I refitted the disc. I was then able with the caliper slack to get the pad in to the side the pistons where furthest out on. the pad need a tap to get them it all the way but only a tap not a sledge hammer. I then pulled the caliper towards me to push the cylinders in the last wee bit so I could get the shims in.
Retighted caliper & slid outer pad in.
You can buy a tool for spreading the pads. I\'ve got one & to be honest its not worth the money as the spreader pads dont dont spread squarely. Which is how my pistons got stuck in the frst place!!
The caliper holding bolts are 14mm or 17mm they will be tight as they should be torqued. But you should be able to shock them wit a ring spanner & hammer or a breaker bar & correct socket.
Right guys thanks for all the posts.
Borrowed of a friend a meter long 3/4" rench which made the job a hell of a lot easier. So I got the caliper of once I was turning the bolts in the right direction :-). Then I got the calpers apart by standing on them and getting a mate to use the rench on the four 14mm bolts. Then he put all his weight ( 19stone )on the seized piston and got it pushed back into place and moving a bit. Got the other three pistons pushed back into place as well.
So Ive got them apart and pushed back into place. Ive degreesed them ready for painting tomorrow and they are just soaking at the mo.
Hope fully the offside wont be so much of a bugger. Thinking of drilling the discs as well whilst the breaks are apart.
Is it a big job to get the discs off as well???
Thanks
Niall
you shouldnt of had to split the calipers & will prob need new seals in there now.
Discs have 2 screws use an impact driver to slacken them, then put one in the threaded hole to push the disc off
just to clarify this is the front brakes as the rears do need a special tool to wind in
he seems to be talking about the fronts as the rear are only single piston not 4 piston
When you talk about drilling the discs, are you thinking of doing them yourself? Maybe I\'m a bit of a blouse, but that sounds like Bad News to me with the risk of cracking the disc... :(
I wouldn\'t do much with the stock rotors if there\'s nothing wrong with them. Remove them and use a circular wire brush bit on a drill to get rid of the rust on the hat if there is any and paint it by all means (i used 3 coats of black 500c engine paint re-coated every 40minutes, not sure if thats good or not but hasnt caused any problems) but don\'t drill (or paint obviously) the faces. Alternatively replace them with black diamond grooved discs which come in at a fairly entry level price but think the weight would be the same. If you get stuck with removing the 2 caliper bolts again (or any for that matter) then just link two standard wrench\'s together and the extra length lets you prise them off with ease, although dont do this with cheap ones or they\'ll just snap, i\'ve snapped two and removed plenty of skin from my knuckles doing so this way :)
Very quick summary on how to remove the rotors is in another thread somewhere, it\'s a 5 minute job once the calipers are off, if that.